NFL free agency: How Tevin Coleman addition shakes up 49ers running back depth chart

salesman in USA Today sports support this rider in chopped Amazon it might be one of the most underrated pickups and free agency so far the San Francisco 49ers bringing aboard versatile running back Tevin Coleman and signing him to a two-year deal worth ten million dollars as ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Wednesday Coleman thrived under head coach Kyle Shanahan who oversaw the six-foot-one 210 pounders efforts with the Atlanta Falcons back in 2015 and 2016 splitting time with the Falcons no 1 tailback Davonte Freeman Coleman managed a total of 3350 all-purpose yards during his four-year Atlanta tenure considering how much Shanahan likes speed from his skill players it's not hard to see how well Coleman will fit into the Niners offense Tevin Coleman was consistently one of the fastest running backs last season reaching 15 mph on 35% of his carries best among RB @ Tico rww joins at 49ers backfield that already features the speedy duo of Matt Breda 22 point 0 9 mph max speed picked at twitter.com slash BR 2 utils 3 our next-gen steps at neck skin stats March 13th 2019 with this edition however there are some problems and question marks wingback wasn't exactly considered a top need for san francisco this offseason the 49ers were already pegged to get last year's prime free agent investment Jerick McKinnon back from a season-long ACL injury additionally running back Matt Brito will return from a season in which he averaged 5.3 yards per rush attempt good for fourth best among all qualifying rushers in the league last year signing Coleman points to one of a number of different scenarios and each one of them has merit it's possible the Niners aren't fully convinced McKinnon will be fully recovered and ready for the start of the regular season even if he is it's likely San Francisco will want to limit his workload to a large extent particularly early on Breda while seeing 14 games last year was regularly on the team's injury report and isn't considered a workhorse running back that boils down to two questions for Shanahan and Co are the Niners planning on keeping all three in regular roles or is a player such as McKinnon in danger of being left kiddo let's go with the latter first it seems silly the 49ers would part ways with McKinnon who has yet to take a regular season snap with the 49ers after signing his four-year $30,000,000 contract in 2018 but as ESPN's dan Graziano pointed out McKinnon has zero left and fully guaranteed money and his 2019 guarantees won't kick into effect until April 1st [Music] that leaves the 49ers with a little leeway to make what would be a crucial decision and McKinnon's relatively team friendly deal still affords the Niners to make this decision even later should they choose also in the mix years running back Raheem mustard who saw an increase in offensive production before breaking his forearm in week nine but is also seen as a core special teamer [Music] mustard spit as argued by NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Mayo Co all but ensures him a spot on the 46 man active roster on game day leaving only two active spots opened between McKinnon frita and Coleman Raheem mustard will be active for every game he's available as the three RB due to his special team skills there are spots for only two other Arby's among Tevin Coleman Jerick McKinnon and Matt Breda on the 46 man gameday roster Matt Mayo Co at Malkin BCS March 13th 2019 one could assume then MacKinnon's roster spot just got pushed onto the bubble this offseason yet there's a counter to Mayo cos argument about having only three runners on San Francisco's gameday roster the easy out would be suggesting mustard won't make the cut which is entirely possible it's also just as possible the 49ers trimmed their wide receiver our tight end depth Chartist spot especially considering both Holman and McKinnon can double as pass catchers in the slot at the line of scrimmage we are talking about Shanahan's play calling here by the way additionally shefter even suggested this running back trio is a dispersal of weaponry few teams can match yet many try to achieve 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan coached RB Tevin Coleman in Atlanta and has long admired and respected his work now Coleman Matt Breda and Jerick McKinnon give the 49ers the type of one-two-three punch many teams seek Adam Schefter ad Adam Schefter March 13th 2019 on the positive side of all this though is Shanahan gets a weapon he used with a great success in previous years which should make an already solid 49ers rush attack even more potent regardless of McKinnon's future which is still far from decided Peter Pan se has been writing about the 49ers since 2011 for outlets like bleacher report Niner noise 49ers web zone and has occasionally heard as a guest on San Francisco's 95.7 FM the game in the Niners flagship station KNBR 680 feel free to follow him or direct any enquiries to at Peter policy on Twitter the views within this article are those of the writer and well just as 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